RADFORD – “Four Corners,” an exhibition of works by graduate students in Radford University's Art Department’s studio management class, will be on display Saturday, April 17, 4 - 7 p.m., at Miller Off Main Galleries, 211 Wilson Ave., Blacksburg.

“MFA students named the exhibition "Four Corners" not only because it described the number of people exhibiting, but most importantly because of the varied backgrounds, methodologies, and mediums expressed in this group of artwork,” said student Nick Milinazzo. “Although they gain training and knowledge at the same institution, these are individual bringing with them a personal aesthetic and sensibility to the collection at hand.”

Aili Wang, of Southeast China, was so enamored by the scenery of the New River Valley that she was inspired to translate her feelings through watercolor landscape paintings. A relaxed and sometimes unpredictable art form by her own admission, Wang’s watercolor painting captures all the vibrant colors and textures a Virginia landscape has to offer. She combines the brilliant colors and familiar forms of nature into an abstract fusion of light and visual depth.

Gloucester native Sonja Novak has been working with the human figure for almost the entirety of her painting career and focuses on the female figure. Her choice of subject matter, created with oil paint on canvas, stems from “the less-than-favorable implications and expectations much of society still has for women, a perfect specimen of feminine beauty with the ability to balance a job, home, and personal life, all without losing her brilliantly white, yet undeniably, vapid smile,” says Novak. Her response to these societal views and the means she is using to break those beliefs is through the distortion of the figure. “My art portrays women as strong, beautiful human beings, capable of anything, regardless of their shape, size, or color,” says Novak.

Born in Manhattan, New York, Elisha Ornes became fascinated with the wide range of people she encountered and their life stories. A portrait photographer and social documenter, Ornes addresses the world around her by using social situations and conditions in a contemporary style. She describes her photography as “a contrived reality; a metaphor of what she has witnessed and questions of the appropriate roles for the next generation. She says her pictures are not solely representational but stand as a dialogue between artist, subject, and viewer, a dialogue through social documentation photography that will help promote change.

Nick Milinazzo lived in the central valley of California for more than 20 years. He is a portrait/figurative artist. His large oil paintings on canvas are a combination of expressionistic force and strategic intuition. “The human figure never being far from my thoughts, I incorporate form, line, and color to give the pieces a sense of motion as well as visual depth,” he says. Milinazzo uses transparent washes or thick scrapings of pure color though there are no tangible objects in his paintings.

Admission to the exhibition and reception is free. To learn more e-mail
Ornes at eornes@radford.edu.